Scott Bloch, a former
head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, received a temporary D.C. Bar
suspension last week following a disciplinary action against him in California,
the Blog of Legal Times has reported.

Earlier this
year, State Bar Court Judge Lucy Armendariz ordered Bloch, who headed the
OSC—an office that protects federal whistleblowers—between 2003 and 2008 under
President George W. Bush, to serve two years’ probation, including 30 days of
actual suspension.

She found that
Bloch had depredated his government-issued computer, resulting in a misdemeanor
conviction, and that he knowingly gave misleading testimony to a U.S. House
committee investigating the deletion of files from the computer.

Two-Year
Suspension

The Office of
Chief Trial Counsel sought a two-year suspension, claiming Bloch was trying to
conceal some unspecified information from being discovered. Bloch claimed that
he hired an outside firm to perform a “seven-level wipe” of his laptop solely
because he wanted to put an end to operating problems he was having with the
device, and Armendariz said the OCTC had offered “mere innuendo,” and not clear
and convincing evidence, to support its claim. .

She
also cited significant mitigating evidence, including the testimony of 26
character witnesses regarding Bloch’s charitable work and sterling reputation.
He practiced law in Kansas for 17 years before joining the federal government,
and is now a sole practitioner in the nation’s capital.

Admitted 2009

Bloch, whose
undergraduate and law degrees are from the University of Kansas, was admitted
in the District of Columbia Bar in 2008 and the State Bar of California in
2009.

Lawrence Bloom,
senior staff attorney for the D.C. Office of Bar Counsel, told the BLT Bloch
received his D.C. Bar suspension last Monday in connection with the sanction in
California. Bloom declined to elaborate, saying more details would come in a
brief his office would file with the D.C. Court of Appeals.

Nossaman partner
Paul Knight, representing Bloch, said the D.C. Bar suspension was “kind of a
nonevent,” saying he’d expected the action in light of the sanction in
California and won’t contest it. “It’s a good thing,” Knight said. “That
resolves all his bar matters.”

Controversial
Tenure

Bloch was a
controversial figure at OSC, where he was accused of closing hundreds of cases
without investigation, of transferring a group of employees from Washington,
D.C. to Detroit because they were gay, and retaliating against workers who
complained about his job performance.

In 2013, Bloch was
sentenced to serve 24 months on probation and a day in jail after he pled
guilty to the misdemeanor charge.